Wheel Throwing All Levels

WINTER CLASSES 2025
Noon Classes 12:00 - 2:30 PM
- 8 Tuesdays, January 28 - March 18, with Erika Novak
- 8 Wednesdays, January 29 - March 19, with Drew Darley
Evening Classes 6:30 - 9:00 PM
- 8 Mondays, January 27 - March 17, with Drew Darley
- 8 Thursdays, January 30 - March 20, with Tony Arru

Click here for Intermediate/Advanced Wheel Throwing class on Wednesday evenings with Drew

Register Now


Class Description

LIMITED TO 6 STUDENTS! Learn a variety of wheel throwing techniques to make both functional and decorative pieces. Beginner students will learn the fundamentals of throwing and working with clay on the wheel. More experienced students will be challenged with learning to throw more complex forms and vessels. Decorating, altering, and finishing techniques will also be taught.
Tuition includes the use of the ceramic studio during an active session. Reserve Time Slot in Ceramic Studio

Location: FVAC Annex 8D at 8 Canal Court, Unit D, Avon, CT 06001, across from FVAC campus
Minimum Age: 16
Materials fee: $33 for 25 lbs of stoneware clay payable to the instructor or with registration
Tuition: $345 includes glazes and firing, Members save 10%
Cancellation Policy


Materials
Download materials list here

Instructors

Erika Novak

Erika is a ceramic artist who focuses on wheel-thrown collections of pottery both functional and decorative. Her work includes a series of cups and mugs and vases, bottles, and hanging objects like lamps and planters. Erika pulls inspiration from patterns and textures found in Art deco architecture, early 20th-century design, as well as patterns found in American Southwestern textiles. After studying ceramics and art in college Erika now works as a full-time potter creating and selling her work at nationally ranked art fairs and showcases. Visit Erika's website.

Drew Darley

Drew is a full-time potter who focuses almost exclusively on wheel-thrown vessels putting a strong emphasis on a clean refined form. Drew enjoys glaze chemistry and the science behind mixing and formulating his own glazes. His current focus is on crystalline glazes. While in college Drew studied ceramics and mathematics. He found connections between the two disciplines regarding glaze calculation and form, which allows him to constantly push the materials to the limit. Visit Drew's website.

Monica Hewryk

Monica graduated from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania with a Master in Fine Arts in ceramics in 2021. She received a Bachelor of Arts from Central Connecticut State University with a concentration in ceramics in 2014. Monica previously worked as the University Assistant at Central Connecticut State University, the intern at Wesleyan Potters, and a Resident Potter at Guilford Art Center. She has been exhibiting work in juried exhibition and group shows since 2013. Monica maintains a private studio at home and continues to exhibit her work nationally. Combining personal narratives about time and the human condition, Monica’s most recent work illustrates ideas of imperfection, inevitability, and disease. She intentionally leaves portions of the work visible underneath the grotesque textured surfaces on her ceramic pieces to portray what used to be. Visit Monica's website.

Tony Arru

At Franklin Pierce College in New Hampshire, Tony became captivated by the smell and feel of the fire from the raku kiln, sparking his lifelong passion for pottery. While there, he also fired their five-chamber wood-fired kiln, or "noborigama," and a wood-fired salt kiln, deepening his interest in the craft.

After earning a BA in Fine Art, Tony apprenticed at Cornwall Bridge Pottery in Connecticut under master potter Todd Piker, who had trained in England with Michael Cardew. Over 2 ½ years, Tony honed his skills in throwing English-style pottery, firing a 35-foot wood-fired tube kiln ("anagama"), and decorative techniques. Now, as an art teacher at Cheshire High School, Junkpot Studio, and FVAC, he shares his passion with many students each year.